@sunnyone I have not used the Listen Everywhere system, but I've used the product from Sennheiser called Mobile Connect. It works well. It basically broadcasts the audio on a Wi-Fi channel so you basically just have to connect your phone to that network like you would with any other Wi-Fi network. You need to also download the associated app. For the Sennheiser system, the app is called MobileConnect. You then hear the audio directly from your phone. Since I have direct streaming from my phone to my hearing aids, I don't need any other accessories. If you don't have streaming, you would use earbuds, headphones or a neckloop (if you have telecoils in your aids/implant). If you don't have a smartphone, the venue will supply that to you with the app already installed. You're typically given cheap earbuds that you keep since they don't want them back for obvious reasons. You should work with your library to discuss the different ways that a person with hearing loss connects to their phone and the accessories that they may want to provide and also how to maintain them.
Tony in Michigan

@sunnyone So glad to know you are involved in HLAA! Yes, it is a wonderful organization that tends to be one of the best kept secrets on the planet! We all need to share HLAA information more.

I'm not familiar with 'Listen Everywhere', but found the post by Tony interesting. There are a lot of new technologies coming. Still I stand by the good old fashioned telecoils that can connect with most of it and cost mere pennies in our personal products. It's interesting that loop installations have increased so much in cost as we used to go out, buy a long piece of telephone wire, a receiver, an amplifier, a microphone and build a loop to use for our chapter meetings. Those parts and pieces were all readily available at Radio Shack, which is no longer in biz.

New standards and regulations upped the cost, as along came professional installers did. (That's a good thing!) So much more can be done today then back then. And, for large venues, such as the Performing Arts Center in our city, it takes a good fund raising campaign. We did it!

I joined HLAA, which was SHHH then, in 1983. I served on the national board of SHHH for 14 years, including 2 terms as chair. That was in the formative years when the organization was developing under founder, Rocky Stone. I feel fortunate to have had that incredible experience. Just watching the evolution of the HLAA mission was amazing.

Glad to hear your chapter in PA is involved in your library renovation. We are about to become involved in something similar here in Appleton WI.

Maybe I'll meet you some time at one of the national conventions. Not going this year, but hope to make it in 2023. I've only missed a few of them over the years. They present such a great opportunity for learning...and for keeping up with technology, and for making wonderful friends.

Julie Olson (julieo4)